


I Heard That Song Before

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Lost
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-27
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-07-03 02:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15809139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: Ethan experiences deja vu when Ben sends him to infiltrate the fuselage camp, while Ben reveals the reason he chose Ethan for the job.





	I Heard That Song Before

Ethan Rom stared down at the photo of the woman in the file. "So this is the one you've chosen?"

Ben nodded. "Her name is Dr. Juliet Burke. She's currently based in Miami, Florida. I want you and Richard out there by the end of the week."

Ethan nodded as he looked at the photo again, then at the pile of discarded dossiers on the chair behind Ben. He had a shrewd suspicion that Ben hadn't even read the rest of the files once he'd seen Dr Burke's picture.

"I anticipate there may be problems with the ex-husband," Ben continued, rummaging through the file until he found Edmund's photo. "Dr Edmund Burke. There may be difficulties in getting him to allow her to go. But you and Richard will make sure she gets here. Do whatever you have to do."

Ethan nodded doubtfully. He hoped Ben had made the right decision in selecting this woman, that he'd chosen her for her qualifications rather than for her resemblance to someone from his past. He knew he didn't want to leave his wife in the hands of someone who wasn't up to the job. But there wasn't really any way of saying that to Ben.

"You're sure this is really the one to go for?" he eventually asked.

Ben stared blandly at Ethan. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were questioning my judgement, Ethan."

Ethan opened his mouth to reply, but was distracted by the slight movement of some crockery near to him. As he and Ben watched, the entire room began to shake.

"Outside!" Ben yelled, nearly knocking Ethan over in his attempt to reach the door. Ethan steadied himself, before following him. Moments later, the two men watched in shock as a light aircraft hurtled through the sky before crashing to the ground.

Ben was the first to regain control. "Ethan. If you set off now, it should take you an hour to get there. Find out if any survived, and who they are. Report back to me when you know more."

All thoughts of the fertility specialist forgotten, Ethan ran.

 

He hadn't really expected that there would be any survivors. But to Ethan's surprise, he arrived at the crash site to find a bald man, possibly Ben's age or slightly older, who appeared to be wandering around in shock.

Ethan fired three times, the last of his shots hitting the bald man in the leg. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"Well, listen, listen..." the other man began.

But Ethan was in no mood to listen to whatever tale he had to tell. "How many others onboard?" he asked.

"You don't understand." the man replied. "I didn't come on that plane."

Great, Ethan thought. Either a wise guy or an out and out liar. Just the kind of person they needed on the island. "Wrong answer," he snapped.

"No, wait. Stop, stop! I know you. Your name, your name is Ethan. Your name is Ethan." the bald man exclaimed.

Ethan froze. How could this man know his name? 

"Who are you?" he asked warily.

"My name is John Locke." he replied. "And I know this is gonna be hard to understand, but Ben Linus appointed me as your leader."

"That is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard." Ethan snorted. Ben Linus, appoint someone else as leader? Ethan didn't think so. He knew exactly what Ben had done in order to become leader in the first place. He certainly couldn't see Ben handing over power to some stranger who appeared from nowhere like that.

"Goodbye, John Locke," Ethan sneered as he prepared to pull the trigger. But the next thing he knew, the two men were engulfed in a bright white light. Ethan blinked, steadied himself, then blinked again.

The man called John Locke was gone.

 

"There were three confirmed dead at the scene," Ethan informed Ben on his return to the Barracks. "I believe they died on impact. They were dressed as priests, and carried Nigerian currency."

Ben nodded. "No survivors?"

Ethan hesitated, wondering if he should say anything, before finally admitting "There was one man alive."

Ben fixed Ethan with a piercing stare. "Where is he now?"

Ethan hesitated again. What was he meant to say? "He disappeared into thin air", while technically the truth, was unlikely to be accepted by Ben. Eventually, he plumped for "He's gone."

At Ben's enquiring gaze, Ethan continued "I had to shoot him. He knew my name, and yours. I thought he may have been one of Widmore's men."

"What did he say to you?" Ben demanded.

Ethan smiled despite himself. "He told me his name was John Locke. It was crazy, really. He said you'd appointed him as our leader."

Ben laughed a little too loudly and too long. "That is crazy." Forcing a smile, he went on to say "You did good today, Ethan. I think it's best that we don't speak of this to anyone else. They don't need to be worried by hearing what you saw."

Ethan nodded. "I understand." he said as he left the house, not seeing the look of frozen shock on Ben's face as he left.

 

Three Years Later:

Ethan had gone with Richard to meet the fertility specialist as planned. Juliet Burke had arrived just as the patient Henrietta was entering the last stages of the sickness, too late to do anything other than make her comfortable.

Shortly after that, Ethan's own wife announced her pregnancy.  
And as she headed through the second trimester, she began to develop symptoms. She was sixteen weeks pregnant when she died.

After everything that had happened, it was no wonder Ethan eventually forgot about his encounter with the man from the Beechcraft.

He didn't even think of it when Ben first sent him to investigate and infiltrate the survivors of Flight 815. "There may actually be survivors. You're one of them, you're in shock. Listen, learn, don't get involved. I want lists within three days."

Ethan ran through the jungle, towards the wreckage of the fuselage. Occasional snippets of conversation reached his ears:

Hey, you got a pen?  
Are we still alive?  
Waaaaaaaaalt!

He approached some injured woman, asked if she was okay, led her in the direction of the man who seemed to be taking charge. No one thought anything of it as he mingled with the rest of the crowd. In a group this size, nobody would notice that he hadn't come from the plane. He looked around at everyone, from the hugely overweight guy to the Asian couple who were slightly apart from everyone else.

And then he stopped. He stared.

No. It couldn't be.

Sat apart from the others, with a strangely beatific smile on his face, was the man from the Beechcraft.

 

In all the time Ethan had known Benjamin Linus, he had never seen him as anything except calm, collected and in control.

But it was clear that the revelation that the man named Locke was alive on the island had shocked him to the core.

"You told me that man had gone," Ben said, with a look of horror on his face.

"I thought he had," Ethan shook his head frantically. "I can't understand how this can have happened."

Ben was silent for a minute. "Did he recognise you?"

Ethan shook his head. "He didn't seem to. And I've spent time alone with him in the jungle, I've hunted with him. He seems to genuinely believe that I was on the plane on my way home to Canada. It's like that day never happened."

"He's said nothing more about...what he said to you last time?" Ben struggled to force the words out. Ethan understood why, although he didn't think Ben had anything to worry about.

"He doesn't seem to know that you exist." Ethan replied. "He certainly hasn't mentioned being our leader again."

Ben flinched, face flushing a dull purple. "Good," he said, his voice oddly toneless. "Keep it that way. Do whatever you have to do."

Ethan nodded. "I understand."

"Now go!" Ben yelled. "Out of my sight."

Ethan ran, not even stopping as he barged past a startled Tom.

"What's wrong with him?" he vaguely heard Tom ask in the distance.

"I just had a few things to say to him because he failed to produce a list," Ben lied.

 

Ben stood over the site where earlier that day, Pace and Reyes had buried Ethan Rom.

He knew the rest of his people hadn't understood why he'd chosen Ethan to infiltrate the fuselage camp. Those who were aware of the relationship between Goodwin and Juliet had, of course, understood why Ben had sent Goodwin to the tail section. But there had been no obvious reason for Ethan.

Ethan had been their surgeon, he'd been the person Ben needed to have at the Barracks in order that his tumour could be removed, rather than wait until a suitable time to extract this Shephard person.

They hadn't understood it because, fortunately for Ben, Ethan had never spoken of what he had seen to anyone else.

Ethan hadn't taken it seriously when Locke had told him he was to be the new leader of their people. He'd had no idea that by repeating their conversation to Ben, he'd signed his own death warrant.

For as soon as Ethan had described the man, Ben had known exactly who he was.

He'd encountered the man once himself, back when he was still a boy living among the Dharma Initiative. He'd only met him once, but once had been enough. John Locke had told him the exact same thing about becoming leader, not knowing then who Ben was.

As time had gone by with no sign of John Locke appearing on the island, Ben had begun to relax, to feel secure in his position as leader.

But when Ethan had told Ben of this encounter, Ben had realised he wasn't safe after all.

Ethan was, as far as Ben knew at the time, the only other person on the island to be aware of John Locke's existence.

Therefore Ethan had to go.

Ben smiled to himself as he walked back to the Barracks. Pace had taken care of Ethan in the same way Cortez had taken care of Goodwin. Two of the men who had stood in his way had been removed, with no blood on Ben's hands. At least that's what he would say should the case ever come before Isabel, although he was confident no one would bring action against their leader.

But Ben knew he was not out of danger just yet. John Locke was still on the island, and still had to be eliminated.

As Ben made his way back to the Barracks, he began to plan his next move. He would use the identity of the man Henry Gale, the man from the balloon, in order to infiltrate the camp himself.

He still had work to do.


End file.
